The Comfort List
by sylph-feather
Summary: Sam and Tucker take notes on how to help Danny after a bad day.


To say Danny crashed after a fight was an understatement. He crashed in all ways imaginable; into buildings _during _the fight, and then crashed hard in physical drain afterwards.

At first, when he didn't have as much of a handle on his ghost powers, this was an even _bigger _crash; thankfully, now Phantom didn't immediately change to Fenon and pass out— no, often now he could make it through the rest of the day as Fenton, albeit tiredly.

Sam and Tucker helped him of course. They had a plan, really.

xXx

_The plan to help Danny through the day after a big fight. By Team Phantom, _Tucker tapped out on his keyboard.

"I think we need a better name," Sam whuffed critically.

Tucker gave a blatant shrug, focusing on the list. "So… ah, step one is…?"

"Well, I guess it's getting him away from the smoking craters of a fight," Sam hummed, chuckling awkwardly. "I still don't get why we're doing this, though—"

"Lists are good," Tucker huffed, motioning to his litany of printed notes and checklists. "Then we're just good on doing all the steps every time."

Sam shrugged him off, but didn't exactly have much else to do with her time, and so stayed.

"Next… well, guess it depends on how he is, huh?" Tucker muttered to himself, tapping a few keys to make a branch. One branch was a simple _get him home with the"sick" excuse, then rejoin step path later, _it said. Its line of reconnection hung, waiting for future steps.

Sam nodded approvingly. "If he's good, we take him back to class." Tucker tapped that out. "And make sure he stays awake," Sam chortled. Tucker echoed her laugh while typing that as well.

"Take notes for him, too," he added shortly.

"Right. And monitor to make sure that idiot's not hiding any injuries." Tucker laughed at Sam.

"Ok, ok, we've reached the complicated part— the after school." The diverging _sick_ path rejoined with the main one here.

"Well, I guess first it depends on how awake he is," Sam hummed. Tucker nodded thoughtfully, adding two branching paths— one _asleep_ and one _awake._

"If he's asleep, one of us just… stay near, yeah?" Tucker affirmed.

"Right. We hafta cover for his parents," Sam nodded.

"And… make sure he doesn't get like… _he does," _Tucker said softly, vulnerably. After big fights, Danny oft woke up _wound up. _

"Yeah," Sam agreed quietly, in that same vulnerable tone she was clearly less comfortable with.

"Then it rejoins," Tucker coughed awkwardly, hooking it up to the next step of the path on the _awake _side.

"Well, I guess next is just… distraction," Sam put in awkwardly.

"Yeah. Depending on how much he's awake," Tucker agreed. He put in a few options. Some were lazier, for a sleepier Danny— _videogames, helping catch up on notes, movies_— others were more engaging if he was more awake, but still keyed up from the fight. Danny often just needed to have others near, being active, and he'd eventually wind down.

Without it… well, the results weren't pretty. He'd _eventually _calm after long bouts of adrenaline shakiness and general… well, what could only be described as some kind of mix of anxiety and paranoia.

It wasn't _way _bad, but Sam and Tucker preferred Danny in a more stable place— and thus, through trial and error, _the list. _

"I guess we should put stuff for when he's _way _keyed up," Tucker said in a hushed tone, remembering the flightiness of extreme cases.

"We've never successfully calmed him down like that," Sam said slowly, as though Tucker was stupid. Guilt still leaked through her voice.

"Maybe we just didn't try the right things," Tucker huffed. "He likes space, so maybe like…" he trailed off, adding _space documentaries and movies_ under a heading of _stuff for extreme cases. _In a comment on that, and aloud, he said, "we should research some good ones."

"Nonviolent," Sam chipped in. Tucker snapped his fingers in a _good point, _adding that note as well.

"What else…?" Tucker sighed, leaning back in his chair and drumming his fingers on the desk.

"Food? Pizza or ice cream is a thing that never fails," Sam threw out.

"Oh, that's good!" Tucker clapped, adding that to the list.

And so it went.

Danny was lucky to have such friends looking out for him, comforting him like such.


End file.
